"This Old Skin" lyrics - THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH

It was '96 in South Carolina,
That's the place and not the god-damn year.
Sitting on the porch out at Bobby's place,
Just tugging on a lukewarm beer.
And there I was peeping like an old sidewinder,
Just an inch or so above the mud.
The first to find out that its raining
Is the last to find out it's a flood.

It was Paradise Valley Nevada,
Not far from where the west was won.
I am the only black face in the whole damn place
Just a raisin in the blazing sun.
And there I am like that old sidewinder,
Just wishing that her eggs ain't hatched.
And the chain I wear has 'em wishin for the day
When it came with a ball attached.

So I'm gonna move, right outta this town.
When this old skin stops weighing me down.
He was sitting in the very same spot that Otis
Sat to watch the dock of the bay.
In the very same spot, that the ships rolled in.
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay.
I'm gonna move, right outta this town.
When this old skin, is weighing me down.
This old skin.

Outside Orlando in the sunshine state
Has just upped itself another degree.
I am the very last orange of the whole years crop.
Hanging dearly to the branch of the tree.
And the wind and the spring couldn't do anything.
So I'm burning in the sun of the south.
That old sidewinder in the dust below,
I'm just waiting till it opens its mouth.

So I'm gonna move, right outta this town.
When this old skin, finally touches the ground.
He was sitting in the very same spot that otis
Sat to watch the dock of the bay.
The very same spot the ships rolled in
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay.
Now I'm gonna move, right outta this town.
When this old skin, finally touches the ground.
This old skin
This old skin
This old skin.